Apparatus for orienting terminal blades attached to a wire for producing an electrical cord therefrom

Abstract

An apparatus is provided for rotating the terminal blade for a structure which comprises a pair of terminal blades attached to a wire cord. The apparatus comprises a support for supporting the terminal blades, the support including a recess having contact surfaces wherein the terminal blades contact the recess on the contact surfaces thereof. At least one blade rotating device is provided which has a projection extending therefrom. A drive moves the recess and the blade rotating device towards each other such that the projection is moved between the terminal blades and contacts one edge of each of the terminal blades. The opposing edges of the terminal blades contact the contact surfaces of the recess, thereby causing each terminal blade to rotate between the projection and the recess such that the pair of terminal blades are aligned and positioned in parallel planes. The apparatus further includes at least one wire cord holding device spaced from the blade rotating device for engaging the wire cord and holding the wire cord.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An apparatus for rotating the terminal blades of at least one structure comprising a pair of terminal blades attached to a wire cord, said terminal blades being aligned in a first plane, said apparatus comprising: (a) support means for supporting said terminal blades, said support means including a recess means having contact surfaces wherein said terminal blades contact said recess means on said contact surfaces;   (b) at least one blade rotating means having a projection means extending therefrom for rotating said blades with respect to said support means, said rotating means including leg means, said projection means and said leg means being positioned with respect to each other to form a clamping space therebetween for clamping said terminal blades therein subsequent to the rotation of said blades;   (c) means for relatively moving said recess means and said blade rotating means towards each other such that said projection means is moved between said terminal blades and contacts one edge of each of said terminal blades and opposing edges of said terminal blades contact said contact surfaces of said recess means thereby causing each of said terminal blades to rotate between said projection means and said recess means such that said pair of terminal blades are aligned and positioned in parallel planes perpendicular to said first plane; and   (d) at least one wire cord holding means spaced from said blade rotating means for engaging said wire cord and holding said wire cord.   
     
     
       2. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said contact surface of said recess means are inclined with respect to the relative direction of movement of said blade rotating means and said recess means. 
     
     
       3. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said leg means has an inclined surface thereon, said inclined surface being positioned adjacent to said clamping space. 
     
     
       4. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1 including biasing means for biasing said leg means toward said projection means. 
     
     
       5. The apparatus as set forth in claim 4, wherein said biasing means is a spring connected to said leg means. 
     
     
       6. The apparatus as set forth in any one of claims 1 or 2, wherein said moving means moves said blade rotating means towards said support means. 
     
     
       7. The apparatus as set forth in any one of claims 1 or 2, wherein said moving means moves said recess means towards said blade rotating means. 
     
     
       8. The apparatus as set forth in any one of claims 1 or 2, wherein said moving means moves said blade rotating means and said recess means towards each other. 
     
     
       9. An apparatus for rotating the terminal blades of a plurality of units, each unit comprising a pair of terminal blades attached to a wire cord, said terminal blades of each unit being aligned in a first plane, said apparatus comprising: (a) support means for supporting each pair of terminal blades, said support means including a plurality of recess means, each of said recess means having inclined contact surfaces, wherein each pair of said terminal blades separately contact corresponding recess means on said contact surfaces;   (b) a plurality of blade rotating means corresponding to each recess means, each of said blade rotating means having projection means extending therefrom;   (c) leg means extending from each of said blade rotating means, said leg means and said projection means being positioned with respect to each other to form a clamping space therebetween for clamping a pair of terminal blades therein subsequent to the rotation of said blades;   (d) means for biasing said leg means toward said projection means;   (e) means for relatively moving each of said recess means and each of said blade rotating means toward each other such that each of said projection means is moved between the terminal blades of each pair and contacts one edge of each of the terminal blades of each pair and opposing edges of the terminal blades of each pair contact said contact surfaces of said corresponding recess means thereby causing each of the terminal blades of each pair to rotate between said projection means and said recess means such that said pair of terminal blades are aligned and positioned in parallel planes perpendicular to said first plane; and   (f) a plurality of wire cord holding means spaced from each of said blade rotating means for separately engaging the wire cord of each unit and holding said wire cord.